Northwest NEWS

Police investigate dog's death

BOTHELL--Bothell Police are terming the choking death of a small dog a "malicious act of animal cruelty" and though they have no suspects, they are looking for two persons of interest.

Captain Forrest Conover said a two to three year old boxer-type dog was found dead at the end of a 15-foot long rope last Wednesday night by a man who'd been watching the dog for a family on vacation.

According to Conover the dog was lying on the side of a steep embankment with a rope around its neck tied in a slip-knot. He said the rope, which was attached to a tree, didn't belong with the dog and said the death appeared to have been intentional.

Reportedly, the dog's name was Otis.

The dog disappeared Wednesday afternoon when the dog-sitter stepped out of his home in the 21900 block of 35th Ave. S.E. for a short time. The dog, which Conover described as gold-colored and about 10 to 15 pounds, had been chained in the back yard.

The dog-sitter returned and searched for two hours before finding the dog in a wooded area in the same block. He then called police around 5 p.m., Conover said.

Animal control officers took the body away that night, and the rope was taken into evidence, he said.

The dog's owners who were in California on vacation hadn't been notified as of last Thursday afternoon.

While police have no motive, Conover said they are looking for two juvenile males who were seen in the area.

Convictions of cruelty to animals is a felony punishable by a $5,000 fine and a year in jail, he said.

If it is indeed an act of animal cruelty, it will be at least the fourth such case locally in recent months.

In June, King County prosecutors say two Redmond-area boys allegedly taped a M-200 firework to a cat's chest and lit it off, killing the cat. Both plead not guilty in juvenile court, according to a prosecutor's spokesman.

In Gold Bar, a horse was fatally shot in a field with a high-caliber weapon July 6.

And in Maltby, a cat and a Rottweiler, as well as humans, have been the target of recent pellet-gun shootings, the Everett Herald reported last week.